Researcher in search of a more water-efficient chicken

In a world with shrinking freshwater resources for a growing human population, where do you find enough moisture to grow food? You might start by improving water use efficiency in the world's number one livestock animal — chickens...

In a world with shrinking freshwater resources for a growing human population, where do you find enough moisture to grow food? You might start by improving water use efficiency in the world’s number one livestock animal — chickens.

Sara Orlowski, assistant professor of poultry science, is working toward developing chickens that can thrive on limited water.

Her research is part of a five-year, multi-institution project funded by a $9.9 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant.

• The grant was awarded through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. Walter Bottje, professor of poultry science for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is the project director.

The project, “Empowering the U.S. Broiler Industry for Transformation and Sustainability,” partners the U of A System Division of Agriculture with Cornell University and brings together diverse research expertise from at least five other university systems to improve efficiency of nutrient and water use in the U.S. poultry industry.